System and Method for Monitoring and Handling Telecommunication Activity via a Computer Network

1. A method for handling calls placed to a subscriber line, comprising: retrieving, by a device, a network address that is associated with the subscriber line, wherein the subscriber line is associated with a plurality of directory numbers; detecting, by the device, a telephone call to one of the plurality of directory numbers; in response to the detecting the telephone call, sending, by the device, an event descriptor to the network address; receiving, by the device, an instruction indicating a call-handling option selected by a user from a plurality of call-handling options; and handling, by the device, the telephone call according to the call-handling option selected by the user; wherein the network address comprises an internet protocol address.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: providing the user with a graphical user interface that includes controls for selecting the call-handling option from the plurality of call-handling options.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: causing the graphical user interface to display call information based upon the event descriptor.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein causing the graphical user interface to display call information comprises: identifying a caller to the user.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the identifying the caller comprises displaying a caller directory number associated with the telephone call.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the identifying the caller comprises identifying a caller name associated with the telephone call.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the identifying the caller comprises displaying a caller description associated with the telephone call.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of call-handling options comprises: answering the call, placing the call on hold, routing the call to voicemail, ignoring the call, and forwarding the call to a forwarding directory number.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: retrieving a user identifier; upon retrieving the user identifier, prompting the user for a password; and authenticating an identity of the user by determining whether the password corresponds to the user identifier.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: exchanging an encryption key with the user; and decrypting the user identifier using the encryption key.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: exchanging an encryption key with the user; and decrypting a portion of the password using the encryption key.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the call-handling option is selected by the user prior to sending the event descriptor.

13. The method of claim 2 , wherein the providing the user with the graphical user interface comprises: storing the plurality of call-handling options in a database local to a monitoring computer.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: storing the network address and a user identifier in a customer profile; wherein the sending the event descriptor comprises retrieving the network address from the customer profile.

15. A tangible computer-readable medium storing executable instructions which, when executed by a processing unit, cause the processing unit to perform operations, the operations comprising: sending a network address associated with a subscriber line to be registered; providing a user of the subscriber line with a graphical user interface that includes a plurality of call-handling options; receiving an input from the user comprising a plurality of directory numbers associated with the subscriber line to be monitored; prompting the user to pre-select a call-handling option of the plurality of call-handling options to be transmitted upon receiving a notification of an incoming call to a directory number of the plurality of directory numbers that has a particular characteristic; receiving from a telephone network at the network address the notification of the incoming call to the directory number that has the particular characteristic; and transmitting to the telephone network the call-handling option pre-selected by the user; wherein the network address comprises an internet protocol address.

16. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the receiving from the telephone network the notification of the incoming call comprises: receiving a notification message; decrypting the notification message; identifying the call-handling option pre-selected by the user, according to the particular characteristic of the incoming call; and encrypting the call-handling option pre-selected by the user.

17. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the telephone network comprises the internet.

18. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein each call-handling option of the plurality of call-handling options specifies a method for handling the incoming call.

19. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the prompting the user to pre-select the call-handling option of the plurality of call-handling options further comprises associating in a database characteristics of incoming calls with one of the plurality of call-handling options.

20. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the characteristics of incoming calls comprise a date, a time-of-day, and a caller directory number.

21. A system for handling calls placed to a subscriber line, comprising: a device for: retrieving a network address that is associated with the subscriber line, wherein the subscriber line is associated with a plurality of directory numbers; detecting a telephone call to one of the plurality of directory numbers; sending an event descriptor to the network address in response to detecting the telephone call; receiving an instruction indicating a call-handling option selected by a user from a plurality of call-handling options; and handling the telephone call according to the call-handling option selected by the user; wherein the network address comprises an internet protocol address.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the user is provided with a graphical user interface that includes controls for selecting the call-handling option from the plurality of call-handling options.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the graphical user interface displays call information based upon the event descriptor.

24. The system of claim 21 , wherein the plurality of call-handling options comprises: answering the call, placing the call on hold, routing the call to voicemail, ignoring the call, and forwarding the call to a forwarding directory number.

25. The system of claim 21 , further comprising a gateway for: retrieving a user identifier; prompting the user for a password upon retrieving the user identifier; and authenticating an identity of the user by determining whether the password corresponds to the user identifier.

26. The system of claim 25 , wherein the gateway is further for: exchanging an encryption key with the user; and decrypting the user identifier using the encryption key.

27. The system of claim 21 , wherein the network address and a user identifier are stored in a customer profile, wherein the sending the event descriptor comprises retrieving the network address from the customer profile.